Some (generally) good moves

I am not a fan of banks. At least, I’m not a fan of my bank. My bank is the local incarnation of one of the global giants. I’ve used this bank in other countries, and been generally impressed by its professionalism, standards of service, and general omnipresence, so when I arrived here in the UAE it was a no brainer.

Unfortunately, the local incarnation of this trusted brand has not always been so reliable. I’ve had shoddy service on the phone, shoddy service in the branches, trouble getting to grips with the pre-historic online banking system. I’ve been unable to get the services I wanted when I wanted them, and for half of the things you need a bank for you have to go to a ‘main branch’, conveniently located miles from anywhere useful.

At first, this drove me crazy, but a quick straw poll of my friends in Dubai revealed that everyone seems to have the same complaints no matter who they bank with. And anyone bold enough to try to switch banks found that not only was there no improvement, but the process of moving banks made them want to weep.

In short, the UAE is not noted for modern, convenient, effective and reliable retail banking services.

Another UAE banking customer bugbear, although it’s not one I personally have noticed, is bank charges. Apparently, customers have long been unhappy with the high fees charged by GCC banks for basic services. In an effort to tackle this complaint here in the UAE, the Central Bank has unveiled a new set of rules governing how much banks in the country can charge for basic services. Here’s the list of charges, courtesy of Emirates 24-7: